Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-05-12
FARM NOTES.
How to Make Yourself Agreeable.

y ~
talker; remember, "y0u cannot draw |
water out of am empty WELL" Next in |
Importance is self-pOssession. self |
possession is nine points in the law"
of good breeding.
\ good voice is as essential to self |
possession us good ideas are essential
To fluent language. The voice from i'll
fancy, should be carefully trained and
developed; a full, clear, flexible voice is
-one of the surcst indications of good
breeding; it falls like music on the ear,
and while ii pleases the listener, it adds
to the confidence of its p0ssess0r, be he
ever SO timid. One may be witty with
out being popular; vOluble without be-
ing agreeable; great talker and yet Il
great bore. 1t is wise, then, to note car
fully the following suggestions:
BE sincere; he who habitually sneers
at everything, will not only render him
self disagreeable to others but will soon
cease to find pleasure in life.
BE frank; frank, open countenance,
and Il clear CHEEKY laugh, are worth
far more, even socially, than ''pedantry
in a stiff cravat.'
BE amiable; you may hide a vindic-
tive nature under polite exterior for
time, as a cat masks its sharp claws in
velvet fur, but the least provocati0n
brings out one as quickly as the other;
ill-natnred persons are always disliked.
BE sensible; society never lacks for
fools. If you want elbow-room, Ego up
higher"
BE cheerful; If You have no great trou-
bic OH your mind, You have no right to
render other people miserable by your
| long face and dolorOus tones. If you
| al xx-ill l.a ll,ra
But above all. be cordial: true cordi-
atty unites all the qualities we have
enumerated.
| New Hints on House Cleaning.
From several years of observation Of
| the different methods employed by
women in their annual house cleaning,
we are convinced that most of them
make themselves great deal OF I'M
necessary hard work when putting
their "hOuses in order" The usual
way is, to go ut it as if the fate of the
nation depended on having it done at a
certain time. Taking it leisurely," is
something they do not seem to think
of. "Moving" is always dreaded by the
men-fOlks, and house cleaning as Il geIl-
eral thing, is about us bad We know
one woman who has completely revol-
with the closets. She empties one at /,
time, cleans it and its contents, returns
them to it, and goes OH to the next
never hurrying the work, and conse.
quentiy never making herself sick by
OVERRIDING. as SO many women do every
spring. When the closets are in apple.
pie oredr," she begins with the rooms
taking those upstairs first, one at 4
time. and working her way down t.
the cellar. There is no hustle, no con.
fusion. no picked up" meals. and con.
Sequently. no outbreaks of wrath on
the part of the men-folks, who would
not know that house cleaning was going
Oh If they were not asked to help move
heavy furniture out of one room into
another now and then, and carry ont
the carpets. or bring them in after they
had been beaten and aired. When the
house is cleaned in this leisurely fash
ion, it is easy to get the men to help
put up shades and curtains. because
they do not get "Out of sorts" from the
general tOpsy-turvey condition of
things. When the work is completed.
the woman of the house is not "all used
up" She may be tired without doubt
she is but she soon rests up" and is
"all right again. while in many cases
the woman who cleans house in the old
fashion, pays for her over-Zealous am
bition by sickness brought OH by not
going slow" and working according to
her strength.
Increasing Organic Matter in the Soil.
In all well cropped soils the roots of
the crops. together with portions which
remain upon the soil, especially when
grass is raised, form a gradually i'll
creasing amount of organic matter,
which becomes incorporated with the
soil by blowing and tillage and adds
greatly to the capacity of the soil. The
presence of organic matter in the soil
increases its fertility by equaliZing the
amount of water which the soil will re-
tain, SO it defends the plants against
drouths. 1t not only absOrbs water like
a sponge when it rains. but in dry wea-
ther it abstracts moisture from the air
which it yields to the plant. besides it
arrests and retains certain kindS of
plant food which might otherwise be
washed away or down through the soil
by rains. Again, by its color, it alb
serbs the heat of the sun and thus
warns the soil, and by its slow decom-
position. which is going on all through
the growing season, it produces carbon
ic acid gas, which being dissolved 10y
the water. aids in dissolving and prepai-
ing other constituents of the soil to be
taken up by the crops. Organic mat
ter is therefore to be increased in soils
in which it is not too naturally abund-
ant, in every economical way. Hence
composts consisting largely of such or,
ganic constituents as straw, leaves
swamy hay, s0ds, weeds. beat. swamp
muck and wood mold. are to be recon-
mended. quickcned with stable manure
or with wood ashes or lime, in place of
concentrated fertilizer. which supply
only the constituents supposed to he re-
moved. Those articles. in the form OF
bonc-dust. ashes, potash salts, etc. may
well be added To amy compost. and are
thus often most conveniently applied
TO the soil
Ecpairin. Grllcd Trees.
Young fruit trees. especially apple
trees. girdled by mice and rabbits are
seldom SO badly injured us they appear
to be. Unless the inner bark is com
; pletely gone, they with proper treat
ment, will recover. Make mixture of
stiil clay and COW manure. beating well
to form Il stiff plaster. adding water, if
needed. y thick. ample coating of
this is placed over the wound, COM
plcte'y covering it, and il wrapped
around with old bagging or other coarse
fabric. The chief object of this is To
keep the whole moist while nature heal
the wound. In Il dry time it is well to
wet the bandages etc. As the supply
of sap is largely diminished by the
wound. the head of the tree should bt.